TOI adds readers, widens lead

Jan 30, 2013, 02.59AM ISTTNN

The Times of India not only remains India's most widely read English newspaper with a readership that's more than the combined readership of two of its closest competitors, it continues to grow at a robust pace, according to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) for the third quarter of 2012.

The survey found that TOI had added 10,000 new readers to take its average issue readership to 76.5 lakh against 37.9 lakh for the Hindustan Times and 22.6 lakh for the Hindu. The newspaper has grown by retaining its leadership of key markets and by closing the gap with the leader or taking over the lead in others.

In Mumbai, TOI remains more than twice as large as the nearest competitor with a readership of 16.2 lakh compared to HT's 8 lakh. In fact, TOI's group publication Mumbai Mirror is now just 3,00 0 behind HT. In the national capital, TOI has yet again gained market share.

In Bangalore, TOI's readership of 5.4 lakh is almost thrice as large as second-placed Deccan Herald's 1.9 lakh while Bangalore Mirror has gained 5,000 readers to be a close third at 1.7 lakh. In Ahmedabad, TOI's 1.3 lakh readers and Ahmedabad Mirror's 61,000 give them leadership by a long distance ahead of DNA's 23,000.

In Pune too, TOI's dominance continues with a readership of 2 lakh against DNA's 58,000. Meanwhile an impressive 11% gain in readership for Pune Mirror means it is a close third with 51,000 readers. In Jaipur, with 89,000 readers according to the IRS, TOI is almost thrice as large as its two closest competitors, DNA and HT.

In Lucknow, TOI's overwhelming dominance remains intact with 1.2 lakh readers compared to 37,000 for HT. Close by, in Kanpur, the picture is no different with TOI's 36,000 readers putting it miles ahead of HT's 10,000. In Patna too, TOI's 73,000 readers are more than twice the size of HT's readership of 34,000.

In Bhubaneshwar, Indore and Varanasi, TOI also remains the clear market leader with its readership being twice to thrice as large as the nearest competitor in each case. In other cities like Surat, Vadodara, Nashik, Mangalore and Kolhapur, TOI faces virtually no competition. In Ranchi, where TOI was in second spot in the previous quarter, it has now become the leader beating HT to second place.

Among the cities where TOI is not currently the leader, it has closed the gap with Deccan Chronicle in Hyderabad, gaining 7% and retaining its lead over the Hindu. In Nagpur, while Hitavada has lost 3%, TOI has gained 3% thus closing the gap. In Chandigarh too TOI has gained an impressive 12%.

In Coimbatore, TOI has gained 7% while market leader Hindu has dropped 5%. Similarly, in Madurai TOI's gain of 29% contrasts with the Hindu's loss of 2%.